Judge orders Massachusetts sheriff to hand ICE detainee records to ACLU
[August 14, 2026]
By KEVIN G. ANDRADE/The New Bedford Light
The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office must hand over hundreds of
anonymized health records of immigrant detainees following a
Massachusetts court ruling.
Judge James Budreau issued the order, released Wednesday, a month after
attorneys for the sheriff and the American Civil Liberties Union of
Massachusetts sparred in Suffolk County Superior Court.
“I think this is a decision that is important for government
transparency and the rights of immigrant detainees,” said Dan McFadden,
managing attorney at the state ACLU. “(The Sheriff’s Office) cannot
exempt itself from public records law simply by contract with ICE.”
Karen Barry, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, told The Light in an
email that the office will comply with the order.
“As the judge acknowledged, this is a novel case,” she said. “We
appreciate the court’s guidance.”
The ACLU sued for numerous records generated for immigrant detainees at
Plymouth County Correctional Facility, the only immigrant detention
facility in Massachusetts. That stems from a contract the department
signed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2024. The ACLU
sued after the Sheriff’s Office denied a public records request.
At the July 7 hearing, the Sheriff’s Office relied largely on legal
concepts of pre-emption — arguing that federal law prohibited them from
issuing the health records. The sheriff’s attorneys argued that federal
dominion over immigration law pre-empted the state’s public records law
in this case, despite the Sheriff’s Office being a state agency.
Budreau brushed that concern aside in his decision.
“The state law at issue is not, however, an attempt by the Commonwealth
to regulate the documentation of immigrants,” he said. “Rather, the
question before this court is about the state maintaining records
relating to the state’s police powers and oversight of the health and
safety of persons held in state facilities.
“The state maintains (its) right to reasonably police and ensure the
health and safety of its population,” he went on to say, “and such right
is not usurped by the federal regulation at issue here.”
The ACLU had filed a motion for summary judgment to compel the handover
of the documents in response to the sheriff’s motion for dismissal.
Budreau said the judgment will be entered within 30 days should neither
party request a hearing on that motion.
The July hearing
The ACLU argued in court on July 7 that the laws the sheriff cited in
its denial of the records were overly broad, and that the sheriff was
attempting to circumvent state law.
“It would be pretty extraordinary if Congress tried to interfere in
state agencies’ abilities to generate its own record,” McFadden said.
Jessica Kenny, the sheriff department’s attorney, argued that the ACLU
could attempt to procure the documents through a federal Freedom of
Information Act request to ICE.
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Dan McFadden, managing attorney at the American Civil Liberties
Union of Massachusetts, argues to obtain records related to the
medical care of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees
at Plymouth County Correctional Facility during a hearing at Suffolk
County Superior Court in Boston on July 7, 2026. Seated behind him
is Jessica Kenny, general counsel for the Plymouth County Sheriff's
Office, who argued against releasing the records. (Kevin G.
Andrade/The New Bedford Light via AP)
“These documents were created pursuant to the (ICE-sheriff
agreement), so ICE does have the records,” she said.
When Budreau pressed Kenny on whether the redaction of detainees’
names, alien registration numbers, and any other identifying
information could resolve the issue, she quickly assented.
“If those are redacted, there’s no way of connecting that to a
detainee?” Budreau asked.
“Presumably no,” Kenny responded.
History of issues
Plymouth County Correctional Facility began to house immigrant
detainees through a contract with the now defunct-Immigration and
Naturalization Service in 1998. It is currently the only such
facility to house immigrant detainees long term in Massachusetts.
According to its contract with ICE, Plymouth sets aside 250 beds at
the facility for immigrant detainees. The agency pays the Sheriff’s
Office $215 per day per occupied bed.
The contract also obligates the Sheriff’s Office to create the
health records. The ACLU filed its initial records request seeking
those records on Dec. 11.
“The availability of medical care in immigration detention
facilities is vitally important, as immigration detainees have no
other way to seek medical help while detained,” wrote Mackenzie
Saunders, an ACLU attorney, in the original complaint. “And for
some, not receiving medical care can be a matter of life or death.”
A 2024 report published by the Boston University School of Law and
Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts found through interviews
with detainees that Plymouth authorities did not provide detainees
with necessary care and services. It recommended the sheriff ensure
inmates had timely access to necessary medical care and to
discontinue the use of solitary confinement. Another 2024 report by
the ICE Office of Detention Oversight found the prison had “no
deficiencies” in treatment.
As of Aug. 4, 57 people had died in ICE custody nationwide since
Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, according to the National
Immigration Project. The ACLU cited the fatalities, and other
reports of ill-treatment, in its complaint.
Several of those detainees died of what may appear to be minor
problems. On March 2, 56-year old Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian man
living in Boston, died at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, while
in custody from an untreated tooth infection.
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